1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments relate to a method for a subscriber unit's communication with a service that requires information about the subscriber unit's location. Such services are also referred to as Location Based Services (LBS) or as Location Dependent Services (LDS).
2. Background of the Related Art
As part of such services and with the aid of position-related data, an end user is provided with information that relates to the location of the subscriber unit or is furnished with services, the type or content of which depends on the location of the end user, or the furnishing of which requires knowledge of the end user's location. Often, these are services in the context of mobile communication systems, where the end user uses a mobile communication terminal, for example a mobile telephone, such that the location of the end user cannot be known to the service provider at the outset, for which reason data about the position of the end user or about the position of his terminal need to be communicated to the service provider.
In this description, end user refers to a user of a subscriber terminal unit. For the sake of linguistic simplification, the location of the end user's subscriber terminal unit shall hereinafter be referred to in brief as the end user's location, although this will mean the location of the subscriber terminal unit unless expressly stated otherwise.
Location-based services can also be offered in connection with stationary terminal units, for example in telephone networks, which can include both conventional connection-oriented telephone networks and packet-switched networks, in particular Internet protocol-based telephone networks. In conventional so-called landline networks, the end user's location can often be determined from his telephone number, because in such networks the telephone numbers are often assigned according to a geographic numbering system.
In this case, telephone numbers are often assigned in a location-based manner because the hardware structure of these networks is oriented on the geographic distribution of the subscriber units, such that in these cases the first few digits of a telephone number indicate the location based on the underlying telephone number system. Examples include area codes, which allow an inference as to the region where the end user is located. However, the invention is not restricted to such telephone number systems.
The increasing importance of Internet-based devices and communication systems is creating a growing need for determining the location of a terminal communication unit in a manner other than from its telephone number, because such devices often do not use telephone numbers that permit a conclusion about the location of the terminal unit and also do not transmit any other information that would allow an inference about the unit's location.